by George Schroeder, USA TODAY Sports

by George Schroeder, USA TODAY Sports

In the news conference Sunday to explain his resignation, Mack Brown had said all of the right things, just like always. Glancing occasionally at notes, handwritten on both sides of a sheet of paper, he'd insisted he could have stayed on, that it was his call, but leaving was "what's best for Texas."

Brown had thanked everyone from the school's president to Texas high-school coaches. He'd admitted the last few seasons fell well short of expectations, while noting the standard had been elevated by his previous teams. He'd said he had "no anger and no regrets."

"We're leaving it better than we found it," Brown said, "and it has been a fun ride."

The whole thing was vintage Mack Brown: composed, articulate, all class. "A tour de force," new athletic director Steve Patterson called it. "Elegant," Texas President Bill Powers said. They were both correct, and it was another illustration of the high standard Brown set on and off the field for Texas, and how difficult he will be to follow. And then here came the last question:

What would Brown change if he could?

"There would be two things," he said. "I would want Cole Pittman back. And I would want the bonfire (tragedy) not to have happened at A&M."

The coach could have taken the moment to lash out at critics, the what-have-you-done-for-me-lately types who ultimately pushed him out after 16 seasons. He could have dissected the mistakes that led to his downfall: Missing out on all of those quarterbacks, or losing too often - and too big - to rival Oklahoma. Or more likely, he could have gotten introspective, one more time, about what might have been:

If only, for example, Colt McCoy hadn't been hurt early in the 2010 BCS national championship game. Brown will forever insist it cost the Longhorns victory over Alabama. He just might be right, and it would not be wrong to draw a line from that moment all the way, inevitably, to Brown's resignation on Saturday. So many things changed; McCoy's shoulder went numb, and the program did, too.

And yet given the opportunity - a free shot on his way out the door - Brown didn't talk about those things, or football at all. He pointed instead to two moments he had already referred to as "tough days" in his tenure.

In November 1999, 12 Texas A&M students died when the traditional bonfire structure they were building collapsed a few days before the Aggies' annual Thanksgiving Day game with the Longhorns. And almost 13 years ago now, Pittman, a sophomore defensive end, died in a one-vehicle accident while returning to Austin from his home in Shreveport, La.

"Those are two horrible things in my life that I'll never forget," Brown said.

It was time for Brown to go. Since his arrival, he had returned Texas to a perch among college football's elite, but the program had fallen in the last few years. He said he wrestled with the decision all week, but recognized the program needed new energy. As he leaves, don't forget what he meant as both a coach and ambassador for Texas football.

Several hundred miles away in Shreveport, Cole Pittman's father knew the news conference was being televised, but he didn't watch. Marc Pittman had anticipated Brown's departure from Texas. It felt, he said, like losing a loved one. He wanted to pretend it wasn't happening for as long as possible. But as the news conference unfolded, Pittman received several text messages telling him Brown had referenced his son's death.

Like all coaches, Brown's tenure will be measured by numbers, by victories and losses, championships earned and missed. He knows as much.

"We used to win 12 and 13 and we won eight," he said. "It's not about integrity, it's not about class, it's not about grades, it's not about any of that stuff. You've got to win.

"We set a standard at this place. You've got to win all of them. That's the expectation and I understand that. I'm a big boy. I understand you don't win all the games here, people are unhappy. Other people love eight wins - not here.

"I do not think that we lived up to the standard that we had set."

And saying he'd been treated fairly - and he wanted to make sure "everyone knows that" - Brown said it was time to move on, for Texas to find a new coach, for factions that had split into separate camps to reunite. Patterson said he will begin searching for Brown's replacement immediately (never mind the rumors about Nick Saban, he and Powers said they hadn't contacted any coaches).

Among the criteria Patterson listed as critical: "extensive experience in the college game." He also noted the coach must be good with the media, an outstanding recruiter, able to withstand a tremendous amount of scrutiny, and one more thing:

"You've got to win," Patterson said. "You've got to win big."

All of which is why he added: "Mack is a tough, tough act to follow."

So many of those facets were illustrated, one last time, in Sunday's news conference. There will be time to dissect what went wrong, and it will take some time to determine Brown's legacy. But the most telling moment Sunday came in response to that final question, when Brown could have tackled any topic but chose to look back on tragedy.

"When you lose your children, there is nothing worth that in the world," he said.

Told what Brown had said, Marc Pittman paused for a moment, then apologized for getting emotional. He had come to know Brown as "people caring about people, and he just happened to be a great football coach," and said they had remained close in the years since Cole's death. Sunday was a difficult day.

"You have to win, no doubt," Marc Pittman said. "But there's just so much more to life. And sometimes you learn more from your losses than you do from your victories."